"It's tough because it's the Premier League and everyone says it is the toughest [league]," he said.

"If you analyse the 90 minutes, we were much, much better. We created enough chances. If you analyse the last 10 minutes, they crossed once and could have scored one goal, so you could say completely different.

"To be focused after 17, 18 wins in a row is not easy but we did it.

"When we prepare games, we don't speak about records but about what we have to do to win games."

The only negative for City was the loss of Vincent Kompany, who went off injured after just 11 minutes of the match, and Guardiola says he does not know whether the club captain has picked up another serious problem.

"I don't know what's going to happen," he said of Kompany, who appeared to hurt his calf. "We're going to see how long it will take to recover."